Tomorrow
by ivyfedora
Summary: Tomorrow: the day after today; the future. Raven gripped her mug a little less rigidly, and flashed a rare smile. "Yes, Robin, there's always tomorrow." kinda short-ish drabble, RaeRob


**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, DC Comics does!**

They had a bond, she said. He wasn't quite sure what to call it. On her birthday, when she almost died (she dies a lot, doesn't she?), he was the first to her door, when everyone else was still groggy with sleep. In response, or maybe as an unconscious judgment of trust, she unfroze him first when she stopped time. When his fellow insomniac couldn't sleep, he stayed up with her, stirring a cup of coffee rather than her preferred poison. The vestiges of intelligent conversation were refreshing, and it kept him from going insane, knowing that there was another thinking, sentient being in the tower. Yes, no one could say that Richard Grayson wasn't a good teammate. But was he something more?

* * *

_"Give it a rest," he said, following his teammate up the steps. "Raven! What's wrong?" _

_"I just don't like parties." _

_"It's more than that. I can tell. We have a bond, remember? You've been inside my mind. Let me inside yours." _

_She turned slightly, eyes unreadable. "I'm willing to try, if-" _

_"You can't." _

* * *

And after that, the whole damn Slade thing, he had chased her down when she really needed him, not Robin, Batman's sidekick, but Richard, her friend. Robin was the only one who really knew her love of walls, and shyness towards change. More than anyone else, he knew of her astounding ability to change tactics at once, as soon as she detected even a chance of error in her work. Her presentation was flawless, he had to admit. Or, at least to outside factors.

With team dynamics, however, she was incredibly stubborn. When Terra weaseled her way into their hearts and out again, she had been crushed, oh-so easily. He was shocked and maybe a little bit of hurt when he heard about it from Cyborg. Hurt, because a little voice in his head whispered to him that she hadn't gone to him first.

(1) That night, when he saw her descend to the dimly lit kitchen, there was an alien wetness to her eyes. Her pale hand reached out to hand him a coffee mug, and he noticed the tiny, almost imperceptible ripple in the black. Looking up, he saw a very un-Raven like action, her hands were trembling. A lightbulb shattered above him, showering sparkles down into their hair. She closed her eyes, just standing there. So powerful…so alone. "What's wrong with me, Robin?" she croaked, a single tear tearing a ripple into her mug. "Am I really a freak?" He didn't try to cheer her up like Beastboy, give her an enormous hug like Starfire, or fill her head with optimistic lies like Cyborg. He just reached across the table and held her cold hands. It was moments like this when he felt like Dick Grayson, a person, rather than Robin, ward of Batman and protector of the human race.

And after all the evidence was gone, he thought to himself that he would never forgive Terra for this, that even her earlier transgressions, despicable as they might be, paled in comparison. When she came back, there was a certain barrier between them, and when she betrayed them _again_, he kicked himself for not seeing it sooner. When Raven came back covered in mud, he felt like it was his fault, as the leader, as her friend, no matter the amount of reassurances his team made.

It just seemed that the day he was Robin, a friend, it changed everything. He dipped the tea bag in the scalding water, just like he'd seen her do countless times. The stars shone outside, and the clouds were parted to show the view of a picture-perfect crescent moon. When she came down exactly thirty seconds later, he handed her the heavy mug wordlessly. Raven murmured her thanks, taking a long sip.

"Jasmine?" she asked, raising a thin eyebrow. "They don't stock this at the grocery store."

He brushed off her concerns, telling her he drove a little bit. What he didn't tell her was that his 'little bit' was a hundred miles to Steel City on his motorcycle. Details like that were irrelevant.

She closed her eyes, placing her blue boots on the spare chair. "I wanted to try something else today," she said, looking pensive. "But thank you for the tea."

"Well, there's always tomorrow."

A rare smile lit up her face, and she loosened her rigid grip on her cup. "Yes, Robin. There's always tomorrow."

* * *

**Fin.**

(1) the first time Terra left, with the carnival


End file.
